Bates Motel

The easiest way to describe Bates Motel would be to include the words incestuous, creepy and violent. The fact that I watch a show that can be described using those words is a slightly alarming but don't judge me until you watch it yourself. The new season started last night just a few days after me finishing House of Cards, perfect timing. Mondays at 9pm on A&E. Thank me later. 

GIRL.

March 3rd. 

Yay Area.

Be back on Tuesday.

1941.

Over at The Sovereign Space we have started a video series called "Final Draft" in which we talk about the meanings behind our tattoos. Check out mine.

On being a male blogger...

When I decided to blog again it was solely for me to practice writing and jot down ideas and feelings about my life. But one thing I have noticed since returning to the blog world, is that it is DOMINATED by women. Not just a few here and there, I mean DOMINATED by women. In fact, if you're reading this right now, I'm pretty positive you're a woman. I have come across very few male blogs. Maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places but 99% of the blogs I have found lately have been owned by females. By no means am I complaining though.  I have come across some incredibly creative and talented women. I credit those blogs with giving the motivation to return to something I love doing.

Even with that said though, I'm confused as to where the male voice is. I see a few husband and wife blogs, but it's rare I come across a guys blog. With "guy content". Has blogging become feminine? I know that seems like a completely stupid question and borderline offensive but I'm genuinely surprised by the lack of male bloggers. So what does this mean for an active blogger such as myself? Do I become the gay friend or something? (Not gay btw) Seriously, I'm so confused. When I started blogging in '06 there were several male bloggers. They wrote about everyday life, music, movies, and shit that both guys and girls could relate to. Now that seems to be lost and I don't know how I feel about it. Good content is good content regardless of who creates it but I'm anxious to see how I will be received in a world dominated by women.

Now Playing...

The day job...well kinda.

See the dude in the middle? That's me. I'm a co-founder of The Sovereign Space. The Sovereign Space is an independent lifestyle that promotes creativity through independence. In simpler terms we are three regular dudes that blog about music, photography, art, travel and all the other shit we think is cool. I do most of the writing over there mainly because I love writing. But Jamaal and Chris contribute everything from cool videos like this to connecting with photographers for stuff like this. We love what we do and are really pushing for 2014 to be a big year. Stay tuned, we have big things in the works.

Why I left blogging

This blog has been around since '06. I began blogging right on the cusp of the "blogger boom". It started as a place for me to go on rants about how music has changed and "hip hop was dying", blah, blah, blah...typical music snob type shit. But as time moved on, this blog morphed into more of reflection of my daily thoughts and ideas on life. In '07 I reached my stride. I was juggling music, photography, love, a new job and a new city. I was enjoying my blog more than ever. Within that year I became a part of a blogger community that included some of the funniest, most insightful people I have ever met. I was truly inspired. Things slowed down considerably in 2008 but I still held on to the blog. The community slowly fell apart and by '09 there was nothing left to see here. I posted 3 times in 2009. Three. The three years that followed, proved to be just as tumultuous as '09. I was blogging a little more frequently but nothing of any real substance. I had lost my creativity and motivation to blog. Period. I tried to restart every now and again but, every attempt failed.

Here I am today. At the beginning of a new year, with new goals and new experiences I can't wait to share. Instead of going into details about why I'm coming back, I'll talk about why I left as a reminder for myself in case I begin to notice the signs.

Distractions - Simply put, I just got distracted. I began coaching basketball at my school and picked up other obligations that seem to take away time from writing. I'm one of those type of people that always end up taking on more than they can chew. The blog was the first thing sacrificed.

Lack of inspiration - I wasn't inspired enough. I was still keeping a journal and writing in it from time to time but as far as blogging is concerned, the community I was a part of fell apart and there was no one there to motivate me. I would scour the net for "blog post ideas" and tips on how to overcome writers block, but to no avail. Before I knew it, draft upon draft had accumulated on my dashboard.

Not personal - This is the biggest one. As I mentioned earlier, seven years ago I started this blog basically so that I can rant about music. Towards the latter years, it became more of an obligation. I was looking for things to write about instead of writing about how I felt. My blog was no longer personal and it sucked.

Laziness - So about those drafts I mentioned earlier...without inspiration, without motivation, they just sat there for years. Literally. I recently completed a post I began THREE YEARS AGO. It finally saw the light of day over at The Sovereign Space (more details on a later post) back in November.  As those drafts began to pile up, I looked at them and said "I'll finish it tomorrow". Tomorrow came three years later...smh.

I'm back for good now. I've been following some pretty cool blogs lately and they have really inspired me. I can't wait to connect with them. Stay tuned.